I’m invited to review far more books than I realistically have time to read and write about. But when I was asked if I was interested in receiving a review copy of Andrew Holocek’s new book, I immediately said yes.
I first encountered Holocek’s work nearly six years ago through Dreams of Light: The Profound Daytime Practice of Lucid Dreaming. I’ve read a great many dharma books over the years, but Holocek consistently strikes me as an unusually clear and profound teacher whose insights are deeply rooted in long-term meditation practice.
After finishing that book, I immediately went back and read the earlier companion volume, Dream Yoga: Illuminating Your Life Through Lucid Dreaming and the Tibetan Yogas of Sleep, and the supplemental guide, The Lucid Dreaming Workbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Mastering Your Dream Life. This past summer, I also read Preparing to Die: Practical Advice and Spiritual Wisdom from the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition, which I found deeply thoughtful and illuminating.
So I was predisposed to say “yes” to any new Holocek book. But when I learned this one focused on the practice of dark retreat, I was even more intrigued. Total Eclipse of the Mind: Unleashing the Power of Darkness for Creativity, Healing, and Transformation was released today, and I recommend it enthusiastically. I strongly suspect that, come December, it will earn a place on my list of the ten best books I read in 2026.
I first heard about the practice of dark retreat more than fifteen years ago from the meditation teacher Reggie Ray and was immediately intrigued. But at the time, I knew little about what the practice involved or where I might experience it for myself. Holocek’s book serves as an extremely practical guide — both for experimenting with dark retreat at home and for finding retreat centers that offer deeper immersion in the practice.
Dark retreat is the practice of entering complete darkness for short or extended periods of time — even for days or weeks at a stretch. Holocek makes a bold claim about its transformative power. As someone who has completed — and deeply benefited from — a traditional Tibetan Buddhist three-year retreat, and who has also explored psychedelic practices involving LSD, MDMA, ayahuasca, psilocybin, ketamine, and 5-MeO-DMT, he nevertheless writes: “Nothing compared to my experience with dark retreat. It is easily the most transformative practice I have ever done.” Coming from someone with that breadth of contemplative experience, that is an extraordinary statement.
My only minor qualm is that some of the references in the book are not traced back to primary sources. For example, Holocek attributes to Einstein the saying, “We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them,” but the footnote cites an article on Goodreads. My understanding is that the quote is actually a modern aphorism frequently misattributed to Einstein. The insight itself remains profound regardless of its origin, and the attribution does not meaningfully affect how Holocek uses it in the book. Still, the volume would be strengthened if references were more consistently traced back to primary sources.
Holocek has also shared plans for a sequel exploring more advanced tantric practices in dark retreat, and I intend to pre-order it as soon as it is available. Perhaps more importantly, I now hope to follow his guidance and experience a dark retreat for myself as soon as my schedule allows. (As the parent of an almost three-year-old, however, that may take a little while!)
I also suspect that Holocek’s book will become a major inspiration for my Winter Solstice sermon later this year for the Unitarian Universalist congregation where I serve, so I expect I’ll have more to say about it in the months ahead. For now, though, I encourage you to add Total Eclipse of the Mind to your summer reading list.
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